Numbers 6–7

Rules for Nazirites

6The Lord commanded Moses ²to give the following instructions to the people of Israel. Any men or women who make a special vow to become nazirites and dedicate themselves to the Lord ^3*shall abstain from wine and beer. They shall not drink any kind of drink made from grapes or eat any grapes or raisins. ⁴As long as they are nazirites, they shall not eat anything that comes from a grapevine, not even the seeds or skins of grapes.

⁵As long as they are under the nazirite vow, they must not cut their hair or shave. They are bound by the vow for the full time that they are dedicated to the Lord, and they shall let their hair grow. ^6–7Their hair is the sign of their dedication to God, and so they must not defile themselves by going near a corpse, not even that of their father, mother, brother, or sister. ⁸As long as they are nazirites, they are consecrated to the Lord.

⁹If the consecrated hair of a nazirite is defiled because he or she is right beside someone who suddenly dies, they must wait seven days and then shave off their hair; and so they become ritually clean. ¹⁰On the eighth day they shall bring two doves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of the Lord’s presence. ¹¹The priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, to perform the ritual of purification for them because of their contact with a corpse. On the same day they shall reconsecrate their hair ¹²and rededicate to the Lord their time as nazirites. The previous period of time doesn’t count, because their consecrated hair was defiled. As a repayment offering they shall bring a one-year-old lamb.

^13*When nazirites complete their vows, they shall perform this ritual. They shall go to the entrance of the Tent ^14*and present to the Lord three animals without any defects: a one-year-old male lamb for a burnt offering, a one-year-old ewe lamb for a sin offering, and a ram for a fellowship offering. ^15*They shall also offer a basket of bread made without yeast: thick loaves made of flour mixed with olive oil and biscuits brushed with olive oil, and in addition the required offerings of corn and wine.

^16*The priest shall present all these to the Lord and offer the sin offering and the burnt offering. ^17*He shall sacrifice the ram to the Lord as a fellowship offering, and offer it with the basket of bread; he shall also present the offerings of corn and wine. ^18*At the entrance of the Tent the nazirite shall shave off his or her hair and put it on the fire on which the fellowship offering is being burnt.

^19*Then, when the shoulder of the ram is boiled, the priest shall take it and put it, together with one thick loaf of bread and one biscuit from the basket, into the hands of the nazirite. ^20*Next, the priest shall present them as a special gift to the Lord; they are a sacred offering for the priest, in addition to the breast and the leg of the ram which by law belong to the priest. After that, the nazirite may drink wine.

^21*These are the regulations for nazirites; but if a nazirite promises an offering beyond what his or her vow requires them to give, they must fulfil exactly the promise they made.

The Priestly Blessing

²²The Lord commanded Moses ²³to tell Aaron and his sons to use the following words in blessing the people of Israel:

²⁴May the Lord bless you and take care of you;

²⁵May the Lord be kind and gracious to you;

²⁶May the Lord look on you with favour and give you peace.

²⁷And the Lord said, “If they pronounce my name as a blessing upon the people of Israel, I will bless them.”

The Offerings of the Leaders

7On the day Moses finished setting up the Tent of the Lord’s presence, he anointed and dedicated the Tent and all its equipment, and the altar and all its equipment. ²Then the clan chiefs who were leaders in the tribes of Israel, the same men who were in charge of the census, ³brought their offerings to the Lord: six wagons and twelve oxen, a wagon for every two leaders and an ox for each leader. After they had presented them, ⁴the Lord said to Moses, ⁵“Accept these gifts for use in the work to be done for the Tent; give them to the Levites according to the work they have to do.” ⁶So Moses gave the wagons and the oxen to the Levites. ⁷He gave two wagons and four oxen to the Gershonites, ⁸and four wagons and eight oxen to the Merarites. All their work was to be done under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron. ⁹But Moses gave no wagons or oxen to the Kohathites, because the sacred objects they took care of had to be carried on their shoulders.

¹⁰The leaders also brought offerings to celebrate the dedication of the altar. When they were ready to present their gifts at the altar, ¹¹the Lord said to Moses, “Tell them that each day for a period of twelve days one of the leaders is to present his gifts for the dedication of the altar.”

^12–83They presented their offerings in the following order:

Day

Tribe

Leader

1st

Judah

Nahshon son of Amminadab

2nd

Issachar

Nethanel son of Zuar

3rd

Zebulun

Eliab son of Helon

4th

Reuben

Elizur son of Shedeur

5th

Simeon

Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai

6th

Gad

Eliasaph son of Deuel

7th

Ephraim

Elishama son of Ammihud

8th

Manasseh

Gamaliel son of Pedahzur

9th

Benjamin

Abidan son of Gideoni

10th

Dan

Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai

11th

Asher

Pagiel son of Ochran

12th

Naphtali

Ahira son of Enan

The offerings each one brought were identical: one silver bowl weighing 1.5 kilogrammes and one silver basin weighing 800 grammes, by the official standard, both of them full of flour mixed with oil for the grain offering; one gold dish weighing 110 grammes, full of incense; one young bull, one ram, and a one-year-old lamb, for the burnt offering; one goat for the sin offering; and two bulls, five rams, five goats, and five one-year-old lambs for the fellowship offering.

^84–88The totals of the offerings brought by the twelve leaders for the dedication of the altar were as follows:

—twelve silver bowls and twelve silver basins weighing a total of 27.6 kilogrammes

—twelve gold dishes weighing a total of 1.32 kilogrammes, filled with incense

—twelve bulls, twelve rams, and twelve one-year-old lambs, together with the grain offerings that go with them, for the burnt offerings

—twelve goats for the sin offerings

—24 bulls, 60 rams, 60 goats, 60 one-year-old lambs, for the fellowship offerings

⁸⁹When Moses went into the Tent to talk with the Lord, he heard the Lord speaking to him from above the lid on the Covenant Box, between the two winged creatures.^b